blonde poker forum

Hello all, and welcome back to the Rio for another neck-craning final watching!

We're here to watch the final Nine battle it out for the big money.

And they are:

        Michael Tedesco    278,000
   Jason Lester    222,000
   Tony Hartmann    163,000
   Stuart Fox    214,000
   Alan Sass    431,000
   Emad Tahtouh    97,000
   Kirill Gerasimov    124,000
   Gregg Turk    122,000

Prize Structure

1  $550,746
2  $284,256
3  $142,128
4  $124,362
5  $106,596
6  $88,830
7  $71,064
8  $53,298
9  $35,532

And Kirill Gerasimov finishes in 9th place, winning $35,532

It was one of those QQ vs AK races which Tommy Smith (owner of the Queens) ended up winning.  One of the shorter stacks, Kirill was probably looking for a double up and that kind of match-up will generate one, or knock you out.

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=12889.msg268326#msg268326

...pics of the final

Tommy Smith is eliminated in 8th place, winning $53,298

His eliminator is now comfortable chip leader Alan Sass, whom I reckon has just broken the 1 million mark.

Meanwhile, Stuart Fox has under 160k...

And the action continues apace (that is a word, right?) - Emad Tamtouh narrowly avoids elimination thusly:

He moves in for his short stack (under 60k), finding neighbour Greg Turk moving in over the top.  He can't have been overjoyed when he saw the Aspades Kh which was up against his Kc 6c.

Flop:  9h 7h 4s
Turn:  Th   (he's halfway out the door)
River:  6d   (he's back in his seat).

Up to 100k+ but blinds are 6k/12k with a 1k ante, so not comfy yet.

Oh, clever me - I tracked down Foxy outside in the 110 degree heat to wish him luck from you all, and get the inside information on the final.  Which is, in total -
Stuart has 140,000 and is second lowest in chips
Chip leader Mr. Sass "has won every hand he's played"
He didn't think he'd make the final so there have been 3 hotel changes
Er... that's all we had time for, folks.  And this photo op:

Wow - huge flurry of post-break action.  Shortest stack Emad Tahtouh finishes in 7th, winning $71,064

Which I missed, although it was Michael Tedesco counting his chips...

Then Greg Turk raised preflop, and found a re-raise of 62k following him from Jason Lester.  It was his tournament on the line here, so not surprising that he had a good ponder before calling all-in.  He showed Ad Qh, against Lester's 8s 8h.
Flop:  4c 2h Tc
Turn:  3h
River:  7d

And the mid pair held to knock out the second player in quick succession:  Greg Turk in 6th, winning $88,830

Hot on his heels, Tony Hartmann gets it all in against leader Alan Sass, with Ad Kc against Alan's Aspades Th.  But you can never breathe that sigh of relief until after the river, and this board proves it:

Flop:  Js 2c Ts  (oh big shout from the Alan supporters - or just those who like to see spiking)
Turn:  9c
River:  Qh   (bigger shout from the post-flop underdog supporters)

Well, I can tell you that Stuart's taken down some blinds with a button raise (8k/16k now so not peanuts)....

But the most action-y hand of recent moments involved Tony Hartmann and Michael Tedesco - Michael raised from the cutoff, and found small blind Tony re-raising.  At first it was announced as 150,000, but then the old constraints of pot limit stepped in, and it was decided that the max raise was actually 136k.  In any case, it was round to Stuart (sitting in the middle) who took off his sunglasses and gave it a good old dwell - going to ask him about it next break - but after he passed Michael Tedesco decided to flat call the 96k it was to him.

Flop:  9c 4h 5s    And as you may expect, Tony moved in for his remaining 198k, while Michael, with any moves taken from him and presumably having missed the flop with overcards anyway, folded pretty quickly.

Foxy gives big blind Alan Sass a walk, showing Jc 2h, but then pinches the blinds from the button next hand.
The following hand button Tony Hartmann 'pinches' from the button too, but when the blinds fold he shows them Kc Kd...

We're down to just four players here on the final table of the $5k PLHE...after Stuart Fox eliminates Michael Tedesco in 5th, for $106,596

The Fox got a bit of good fortune when he decided to call Michael's push all-in from the big blind (he was on the button) with A8. He'd raised, as he tends to, on the button, and must not have given much credit to Michael's move.  He was actually up against AQ, but with an eight on the raggy flop, and no help emerging, he knocks out Tedesco and at the same time increases his stack to a size worth being wary of. 

The last hand before the current **************BREAK*************** it all suddenly got very serious - Tony Hartmann raised, Alan Sass re-raised to 144k, then, in position, and after a very lengthy think (well, it IS the WSOP for a change) Tony re-raised another 294k, committing his remaining 50k or so for an all-in on the flop.  An equally matched long dwell from Alan, and then........call.
Flop:  Ts 7h 2h    And first to act Alan bets 42k to put Tony all in; call

Alan shows:  9s 9d
Tony shows:  Aspades Kd

Turn:  5d
River:  6d

And a tension bubble bursts as a big cheer goes up for Alan Sass and Tony Hartmann finishes in 4th place, winning $124,362

Roller-coaster for Foxy now -

First of all from the button Stuart makes it 47k to go, Jason Lester re-raises to 105, and it's a short hop to all in (for Jason), Stuart happy to call with Ac Kd.  Jason shows the perhaps slightly surprising 5c 5s...
Flop:  9h 2c 2d
Turn:  4d
River:  Ts

And Lester doubles through off Foxy to around 460,000, leaving his opponent very short (less than 100k)

Two hands later (Stuart gets a walk in the middle because Alan Sass is sitting out a 10 minute penalty (!) - wish I'd seen why)   ;goodvevil;

Foxy moves in when Jason Lester raises on the button - he's too short for Lester to pass and shows Kc Qh to Lester's Kh 3s.

Flop:  Ac 5s 5c   looking good for Stuart
Turn:  Aspades   looking potentially disappointing for Stuart
Ruver:  Ks  giving him a kicker advantage and a desperately needed double up.

Big Foxy News after about 20 minutes of walks (at one point three in a row, playing Pass the Blinds which are currently 10k/20k) and button raises which take it down...

Jason raised to 60k, and Stuart raised the pot behind him... Jason passed and Stuart had built to roughly 280k.
The very next hand Jason raised to 65k, Stuart raised the pot AGAIN - this time leaving 150k for Jason to call.  No call, but a re-raise all-in commit, and Stuart went for it!

Foxy showed:  Kh Jh
Jason showed:  Ks Qc    uh-oh

Flop:  9h 4h 5h   (although I didn't see it so much as Nick Gibson's head as he jumped up and down in front of the monitor)
Turn:  9s
River:  Td

And now Stuart is properly back in contention.

The problem with the nice media room is that it takes about five minutes, round trip, to get here, plus the write-up'n'post time, so that when I get back ringside, things have often changed dramatically...

This intro was to apologise for the revolution in chips that happened in the last 10 mins - it looks like Foxy clashed with Alan Sass, who was described by the Announcer as "our new chip leader."

His counts:

Jason Lester   840,000
Stuart Fox      180,000
Alan Sass        871,000

Seeing as I can't see the stacks, I am going to take their word for it.  ;)

At least it ain't boring.... Stuart Fox doubles up to 285,000

Jason Lester raises to 65k on the button (with Ad 6h as it turns out), Stuart pushes all-in for just 67k more.  Perhaps realising that Stuart expects an auto-call, it's a reluctant one, to see Foxy's Qs Qh.

Flop:  5s 6s 7s
Turn:  9d
River:  3s    and a Queen-high flush takes that one.

And Stuart 'Foxy' Fox becomes the 3rd place finisher, winning $142,128

Covered by both players, he seemed relentless in his re-raising of Jason - this time from the big blind Stuart raised the pot, and found Jason prepared to put him all in with Ad 9h.  Stuart had Kc 3c...
Flop:  6s 4s Td
Turn:  6c
River:  Jd

An aggressive end to a long tournament - it's quite possible that his style of play may get him to another final table, if he doesn't want to just relax after the 'extra' two days' play he got out of this one.   ;applause;

I probably should have posted about half an hour ago that the heads up guys are on a DINNER BREAK.

But never fear, they'll be back (in fact just saw Alan Sass arriving with very excited group of friends bubbling around him: "Make way for the champ!" etc.)

Five minutes after the heads up dinner break, it's all over...

Alan Sass and Jason Lester clash on a particularly odd flop: 9 3 2 (rainbow).  Alan bet out 45k, found about 120k back at him, and must have thought Jason would pass to his 325k all-in re-raise.  But no.
Jason showed:  9c 7d
Alan showed:  6h 4h

Astoundingly, the gutshot missed, which means that Alan Sass finishes in 2nd place, winning $284,256 and...

Jason Lester is the WSOP 2006 $5,000 PLHE Champion, winning $550,746